Wedding Inspiration Blog

aloe vera

We are excited to offer you a chance to win £128 worth of gorgeous goodies… just because! The grand prize includes the following mega haul of 10 products offered by Givable.co & ClaireForever.com. All you have to do is stick in your details in the form below to be entered into the prize draw…easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

ENTER TO WIN ALL 10 PRIZES HERE!

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THE PRIZES!

This super-cute double-sided sterling silver ring spells out ‘Love’ on one side and has a delicate little heart on the other.

PRIZE TWO

Silver Statement Bracelet worth £18

A beautiful, big, handmade sparkly silver look beaded bracelet with simple clasp fastening. Make a gorgeous statement with this bestselling of jewellery.

PRIZE THREE

120 Kids Vitamins worth £11.90

Chewable multi-vitamins that provide children with the nutrients needed each day. Fun and delicious, grape-flavoured, formulated without sugar, aspartame, artificial colours or preservatives, adults love them too.

PRIZE FOUR

Aloe Lips Multipurpose Balm worth £2.99

Get kissable lips with this rich and nourishing pocket-sized lip balm. Soothe and moisturise dry lips with the conditioning ingredients of aloe, jojoba and beeswax. Great to protect lips all-year round.

Forever Bee Pollen is gathered from the blossoms that blanket remote, high desert regions. This ensures the freshest and most potent natural product. This all-natural supplement contains honey and royal jelly, and is free from preservatives and artificial flavours.

PRIZE SEVENHand Sanitiser worth £3.53

Enriched with soothing aloe and nourishing honey, one squirt of this handy disinfectant can kill 99.9% of germs and bacteria. With a refreshing scent of lemon and lavender, Forever Hand Sanitizer softens and moisturises hands as it cleans. A must-have for your pocket and bag.

PRIZE EIGHTAloe Blossom Herbal Tea worth £12.14

Aloe Blossom Herbal Tea® is a natural blend of leaves, herbs and spices, specially prepared to provide an outstanding flavor and a rich aroma.

PRIZE NINEGold Plated Drusy Bracelet worth £28

A gorgeous, gold plated string of fabulous drusy charms, handmade by Givable.co. This bracelet needs to be seen to be believed, it’s absolutely beautiful.

PRIZE TENSterling Silver Crystal Creeper Earrings worth £16

These cubic zirconia diamond shape earrings in sterling silver are just the ticket to dress up any outfit. They sit along your ear lobe in the most trendiest of fashions.

ENTER TO WIN ALL 10 PRIZES HERE!

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THE RULES!

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY

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Prize winner will be chosen at random at 6pm GMT on 12/03/2016

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This post is detailing days four to nine of my Forever Aloe C9 programme. It claims to change lifelong habits by focusing on good nutrition and exersise to achieve true and lasting weight management. You can read here why I am embarking on the C9 programme, and read all about the painful pre-cleanse I endured (worth it, though!). Day one, two & three went well, you can read about those here, here and here.

Days three to nine consist of the Aloe Vera & natural supplements, but, instead of just one shake, you are allowed two meal replacement shakes & one 600 calorie meal. Yes!

Aloe Vera Gel

To gently cleanse your colon & help your body better absorb essential nutrients. It contains over 200 different compounds so it is a rich source of nutrients, minerals and amino acids to provide all the things your body needs. It kickstarts your digestive system and helps you feel better as Seratonin is produced in the gut lining.

During the cleanse you will notice an improvement in the production of the Seratonin which will help your mood.

My Aloe Vera Gel Top Tips

It has an odd taste, but to make it more bareable put your Aloe Vera Gel in the fridge so it’s as cold as you can make it. This will help to take the taste away.

Squeeze a bit of fresh lemon in to your Aloe Vera shot glass and down in one!

Try to enjoy it – it might smell and taste slightly weird, but it’s doing you so much good, so enjoy it while it lasts.

Fibre Sachets

To aid healthy bowels and digestion, give you a sense of fullness, mop up excess fat and stabilise healthy sugar levels. You can either take this mid morning or mid afternoon, whichever fits best with your day. Fiber comes in a handy sachet and you mix the contents with 8-10 oz of water. You need to make sure you take your Fiber separately from your other daily supplements as Fiber can bind to some nutrients, impacting their absorption by your body.

My Fibre Sachet Top Tips

This is a slightly odd substance in that it takes a while to disolve completely. One false move and you have a weird lumpy drink on your hands.

Pour a glass of about 100ml of water. Get a fork and tip the fibre powder slowly into the water whilst stirring vigorously. Keep stirring until your arm feels like it’s going to drop off. Then wait 5 minutes, It should dissolve! Down in one.

Don’t take it at the same time as your supplements.

Forever Lite Ultra

Soy protein shake to ensure you’re consuming the recommended daily amount of vitamins and minerals. It contains natural soy protein which means it is easily absorbed by your body. It also contains Chromium which regulates the blood and helps build muscles. It also contains Aminotine which breaks up protein so it is more easily absorbable. Low GI.

My Forever Lite Ultra Top Tips

Delicious mixed with coconut water (the no sugar, natural version – try Innocent or Vita Coco).

Use coconut milk and freeze your shake to make a delicious, filling ice cream.

It tastes really good if it’s really, really cold. I chill my shakes in the freezer when they are made up – very refreshing.

Try your shake with unsweetened almond milk, soya milk or coconut milk for a different flavour.

That extra plastic pot thing that perplexes everyone is for the powder when you’re on the go. You put the powder in the pot, you stick that on the bottom of your shaker, and you fill the shaker with your liquid. Refigerate, then when you’re ready, you can add the pwder to the milk.

Garcinia

A natural product containing extracts from the fruit of the Garcinia Cambogia tree. Used as a supplement to increase your metabolism & slows down the process of carbs storing into fat. It contains Chromium which regulates blood sugar. It stops you overeating by indicating to the brain that you are full 10% quicker. It also contains Salflower Oil and Omega 6 to boost metabolic rate. The body can burn this oil for quick release energy so it is great to take before exercise.

My Forever Garcinia Top Tips

These are BIG pills to take. I am terrible at swallowing pills, so I don’t have any tips!! I really struggled. I had to be on my own with no distractions to be able to swallow these bad boys.

Therm supplements

These raise your body temperature to boost blood flow around the body quicker. They take your fat cells and burn them into energy. They also contain natural ingredients to give you an energy boost like guarana, green tea and coffee extract. Forever Therm is taken twice a day after your Aloe at Breakfast and Lunch time, and helps to boost your metabolism.

My Forever Therm Top Tips

These are bitter if they linger in your mouth, so swallow them quickly.

Break them in two if you find them too big to swallow in one.

What else is in the C9 pack?

Your pack also contains:

A comprehensive diary – this is perfect for ticking off what you’ve had and diarising all your weights and measures.

Fitness plans – gives you ideas on what exersises to embark on.

Meal plans – if you’re lacking inspiration for your 600 calorie evening meal, you can read ahead and get the ingredients in advance.

A shaker

A mini measuring tape

Full support from Claire – priceless!

Support from the private group of other C9’ers – any questions you have, post them here and you’ll find the answer in double-quick-time!

The Fabulous Free Foods List!

Thankfully, throughout the C9 Programme you are able to eat a lovely bunch of raw (or very lightly steamed) fruit and vegetables to see you through your day. Feeling a bit woozy or peckish, or need an extra boost of energy? Snack on these lovely fresh goodies.

All of the foods below are low on the Glycemic Index (GI) – a system that measures how much a particular food impacts your blood sugar on a scale of one to 100. Foods under 55 are considered low GI. Because these foods are low in calories, and have a minimal effect on your blood sugar, these can be enjoyed as a snack throughout the day to help curb cravings.

Apricots

Apples

Blackberries

Blueberries

Boysenberries

Cherries

Red/Purple Grapes

Grapefruit

Kiwi Fruit

Oranges

Peaches

Pears

Plums

Prunes

Raspberries

Strawberries

Artichokes

Rocket

Asparagus

Belgain Endive

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Celery

Cucumber

Aubergine

Spring Onions

Kale

Leeks

Lettuce

Pepper

Mangetout

Sugar Snap Peas

Soy Beans

Spinach

String Beans

Tomatoes

Herbs

My Free Food Top Tips

Chop tomatoes, chillis, spring onions, chives, or use a mini chopper to make a fresh salsa. Dip carrot batons, celery sticks, cucumber sticks and sliced pepper in the salsa for a filling, fresh snack.

Dried apricots and prunes are really filling, so snack on a few of those when you feel hungry.

Blend ripe strawberries to make a delicious sauce that you could pour over orange and peach slices.

Stock up on frozen fruit and blend it with coconut or almond milk and Forever Lite Ultra for a delicious tasting smoothie. My favourites are frozen cherries with coconut milk, and almond milk with strawberries and blueberries. It also helps to make the milkshakes last longer as it bulks it up.

Crush soy beans with chives and coriander for a delicious dip for other raw crudités.

Use as many fresh herbs as you can find, they flavour foods more than you realise when you don’t have lots of salt available!

Use each evening to cut up all your foods so that you can take them in the morning before work. Even if you believe you’ll not get hungry or you’re too busy at work to snack, the last thing you want is to be caught hungry in the middle of day when you can’t run out and get supplies.

So, with all of the formalities aside, I know you’re dying to find out the results!

I felt great most of the time. I felt much better than when I was consuming cups and cups of coffee and glass after glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc every night, let me tell you! The C9 has shown me that what I thought was my fuel – coffee and wine (!), was actually making me feel awful and I didn’t even realise it. I woke up on every day of the nine day cleanse feeling refreshed and not tired. If I felt a bit tired, I had a glass of water and the Aloe Vera Gel, and I would wake up sharpish.

I didn’t feel hungry AT ALL. I thought I was pass out and die from not eating enough, but with the Forever Garcinia appetite suppressant, all I wanted to do was drink water and eat dead healthy foods. I didn’t want to touch bread, caffeine, pasta, potatoes… all my fave foods were out of the window, and lovely fresh, light meals were the order of the day. Booze was harder to stay off, but I did it!

The Weight Loss!

I lost 8lbs, and 3 inches in total from my waist, hips and chest. I was suprised I didn’t have a bigger inch loss considering the amount of weight I lost, but I noticed that where I lost the most weight was my face, my lower thighs, love handles and my bum (none of which were part of the measurements – but my jeans are now loose so I know the weight has gone from there.)

I would love to have shown you a beautiful before and after picture of my old and new body, but I felt so gross on Day One, I couldn’t face it. Now I’m back in my jeans, I have a new outlook to eating and drinking. I have ditched caffeine altogether, and I’m drinking much more herbal tea and water. Already, since integrated my favourite tipple back into my day, I feel really sluggish and rubbish in the morning, and I only have one glass of wine! I have managed to keep the weight off, but I can feel it creeping back on. I am trying to stick to a lower calorie diet, and not eating carbs at dinner time, so I have kept some good habits!

If you’re thinking of embarking on the C9 Pogramme, I would thoroughly recommend it. It does take some will power, but trust me, if I can do it, you can! It’s the quickest change I have ever seen, and I will be doing it again next month.

Oh! I almost forgot! The reason I was doing this Cleanse was to get back into my favourite Christmas dress. Did I do it? I certainly did!

This post is detailing day three of my Forever Aloe C9 programme. It claims to change lifelong habits by focusing on good nutrition and exersise to achieve true and lasting weight management. You can read here why I am embarking on the C9 programme, and read all about the painful pre-cleanse I endured a few days ago. Day one & two went well, you read about that here & here.

Days three to nine consist of the Aloe Vera & natural supplements, but, instead of just one shake, you are allowed two meal replacement shakes & one 600 calorie meal. Yes!

Some fun facts about the nutritional benefits of the C9 Programme:

Aloe Vera contains over 70 different vitamins, minerals & trace elements. Boosts the immune system and digestive system and cleanses the body whilst aiding nutrient absorption.

Like day two, I woke up really, really hungry, but I popped a couple of almonds and went on my merry way.

Only joking. I stared into the fridge wondering if I should break my cleanse and eat a lovely giant crumpet as big as my head with lashings of proper butter dripping from the holes….. I fixed my son some breakfast and a fresh mint leaf tea for me to see if it as thirst I was succumbing to. Turned out, the mint tea helped…for a moment, anyway.

I had my aloe vera gel and supplements, doses of which lessen from day three through nine, but I was craving a filling hot drink. Boo hoo – I miss my morning flat white. So I chucked a teaspoon of cocoa powder into some almond milk and microwaved it, then added it to half a scoop of vanilla Forever Lite Ultra to make a nice morning drink. That was suprisingly filling and kept me locked up ’til about 10.30am.

I almost forgot! I was supposed to weigh myself today, and re-measure all my lady lumps! Incredibly, I’ve dropped 5lbs in 48 hours and 1 inch from my waist, 1/2 inch from my calves (!) and 1/2 from my chest. Though, that last half an inch is not so welcome! The thoughts of crumpets went straight out of my brain and I had a rush of determination to keep this up! I was craving a nice wedge of cheddar yesterday, but knowing I’m doing well so far, I am going to try to remain vegan for a couple more days.

I was still feeling the affects of yesterday’s migraine so took a short break away from my laptop and mixed up the remaining 1/2 scoop of protein shake with cocoa powder, frozen cherries and coconut water. That tasted like black forest gateaux. Who am I kidding? It tasted like a liquidised black forest gateaux, ok, I’ll give it that.

On day three through to day nine, you’re able to have a 600 calorie evening meal, which, although I am soooo looking forward to, I am aprehensive. After 2 days of near starvation (ok, that’s a bit of an exageration) I am wondering how I will manage 600 cals in one hit. It also has to be non-processed, natural fabulousness, and eating 600 calories worth of veg will be hard to swallow!

So, I used my paleo recipe app to plan some tasty and nutritious dishes for later and nipped to the shop for a trolley full of paleo-this, gluten-free-that.

I couldn’t face my lunchtime shake, I was craving something really savoury. You’re allowed to swap a shake for a 300 cal meal, so I made some simple and quick vegetable soup with cherry tomatoes, celery, carrot and loads of fresh herbs. That was a welcome addition to my day so far. Really filling, hot and tasty! I didn’t bother counting the calories, because I know there was nothing but vegetables in there and was a small bowl. Honest, Gov!!

Cauliflower rice and basil tofu for my 600 calorie evening meal

During the afternoon, I did get a bit hungry. The usual 4pm slump had hit, so I had a pint of water and a few dried apricots which helped see me through until dinner time. Knowing I had a tasty meal coming, that spurred me on.

For dinner I made some cauliflower rice by pulsing it in a little food processor, dry fried it and added sundried tomatoes, capers, roasted peppers, black olives and white balsamic vinegar, a pinch of sea salt and a big sprinkling of chilli flakes. I topped the big mound of the ‘rice’ with pomegranate seeds. For protein I had some basil tofu slices. It was good, but I couldn’t finish it, so my husband polished it off when he got home from work!

Raw chocolate brownies – really tasty, and really filling!

I had my nightly coconut water in a wine glass – suprisingly I am not craving booze. Big shock!

Later on in the evening, I made some raw chocolate brownies from agave nectar, dates, almond flour, raw cocoa powder and cocoa nibs which filled the remaining room in my diminishing belly for the night. A nice way to end day three of the C9 programme!

Day three has been A LOT easier than day one and two, which is a very obvious statement, but I am carrying on wanting to remain strong and not falter. I have received a lot of encouragement from my ‘Forever Aloe coach’, Claire. She’s probably bored of hearing from me. “I’ve eaten this…”, “Can I drink this…?”, “What happens if I do this…?” She’s heard it all before, and is very knowledgable, so she’s been spurring me on. She’s not once made me feel like any questions are stupid questions. She’s also been through the C9 programme herself, so she knows all about it first-hand.

Something else that’s helping me keep on track is the secret facebook group with about 6000 mainly female members posting before and after pics, results, meal ideas and words of encouragement. The group’s introductory text says something like “we kindly request that you leave the group if you want to make excuses about being overweight, stay on the sofa…complain whilst stuffing your face with processed food & toxins.” I’ll keep my moaning to my blog, hey 😉

This post is detailing day two of my Forever Aloe C9 programme. It claims to change lifelong habits by focusing on good nutrition and exersise to achieve true and lasting weight management. You can read here why I am embarking on the C9 programme, and read all about the painful pre-cleanse I endured a few days ago. Day one went well, you read about that here.

Day two, though. What a day.

I don’t want to sugar coat my C9 journey, so I’m just going to be honest about how today has felt!

I woke up really hungry having had stomach pains in the middle of the night. I figured this was all the nutritional bits and bobs doing their sweet thang, and it passed after a few minutes. The hunger, however, didn’t.

Melon and coconut from the free foods list for breakfast today

I felt lighter this morning, so I took a sneaky peek at the scales, even though I’m not supposed to until day 3. I lost 3lbs in 24 hours, which must have been all the retained water from a very unhealthy few days before the C9 started 😉

I had my aloe vera gel and supplements, and also had a few slices of melon and chunks of coconut to try to reduce the feeling of hunger. I also had a fresh lemon and ginger tea and a couple of pints of water. That did the trick for a while. I threw myself into work, and made sure I was hydrating myself all morning.

Come 11am, I had to snack on some dried prunes and apricots and a handful of whole almonds as I was feeling a bit woozy. A bit more work later and BOOM, a migraine hit me and wiped me out until about 6pm.

A frozen cherry, coconut milk and vanilla protein shake

Having already had lots of caffeine widthdrawal headaches last week, I knew this was different as I had the ‘aura’ associated with a migraine. Having tried to work through it, I had to take the afternoon off, and decided to go to bed with my lunchtime shake and try to sleep the migraine off. This did the trick temporarily, though I had to take some painkillers – which slightly defeats the object of a detox – but I couldn’t bare the pain. I am not sure whether the visual disturbances and the migraine were associated with the cleanse, or a coincidence, but I am now feeling much better – happy to have my brain back.

My son came home early today as his carer was also feeling ill (what a bunch of sicknotes!), so I made him a delicious snack of a baked potato with loads of butter and cheese. Normally I would have gobbled up his leftovers, but I kept strong. I did inhale the lovely buttery steamy goodness of the potato… that’s normal, right?

For ‘dinner’ I had some carrot, celery and pepper sticks with a salsa made from chives, garlic, cherry tomatoes, chilli and basil, which was just what I needed as was craving something savoury. These veggies are all on the free foods list – my absolute saviour! For me, I find detoxes like this very hard when you have to live on a liquid diet, so the free foods list has been my favourite page of my programme. My teeth were made to chew!

A snack of carrot, celery and red pepper with fresh salsa from the free foods list

Day 3 beckons…

Whilst my son swam around in the bath this evening, I downloaded a paleo recipe app which has inspired me to get cooking tomorrow. Day 3 means you can eat something more substantial, 600 calories worth of non-processed food! I can’t wait. I can also have two shakes rather than just one which is great news. I have been blending them up with different fruits from the free foods list, and have made some nice combos, but now I can add a few more ingredients. I’m thinking of adding natural peanut butter tomorrow, and some raw cacao. Yum. I would have to take that from my calorie allowance, but I reckon it will be worth it!

Day two has evidently been a little up and down, and I have lacked the energy that I had yesterday. That’s probably because of the migraine, but I am so looking forward to testing my cooking creativity further with my day 3 shakes and fabulous 600 calorie meal.

I have been telling my ‘Forever Aloe coach’, Claire, that I am inspired to carry on a paleo-style diet and to try to cook more following the C9. We shall see how long the inspiration lasts, hey!

Today is day one of the real deal! Can I look and feel better in 9 days? I bloody hope so.

C9 is a Forever Aloe programme that claims to change lifelong habits by focusing on good nutrition and exersise to achieve true and lasting weight management. You can read here why I am embarking on the C9 programme, and read all about the painful pre-cleanse I endured a few days ago. I’m feeling much better now, thanks.

That was then, this is now. Day one…. and it’s gone well! I’ve suprised myself.

It went a little something like this…

Day one diary

6.45am: I got up.

7.50am: I took my son to preschool having spent about 20 minutes trying to scrape ice from the inside of my car?! Inside?!

8.10am: I drove back home to read my new bible, the C9 booklet – ooooohhhh! It’s got everything that I need to do through the 9 days of the programme, plus handy (and delicious sounding) recipes and tips. My favourite page is the ‘Free Foods’ page. “Why?” I hear you ask. Because that’s been my life saver (bit dramatic) this past one day as you’ll find out if you read on.

12.30pm: Shake time! Thank goodness, I was hungry. I decided to see how filling the shake was (incase I felt desperate to eat in the afternoon!), so I pureed some strawberries and scooped half of my daily amount of vanilla flavoured Forever Lite Ultra into the blender along with 150ml of almond milk (half the normal 300ml). Boy oh boy that tasted good, and it filled me up, if temporarily. I used the other half of the Forever Lite and 150ml coconut milk and chucked it together with some cherries into the freezer for dinner. More on that later.

1pm: Variety is the spice of life, so I went shopping to get pretty much all the free fruits and vegetables on the list!

2pm – 5.30pm: I snacked on some watermelon and coconut pieces.

5.30pm: Time to pick up my son. My car wouldn’t start… that’s another very fun story.

6.30pm: I blended a delicious concoction of cherry tomatoes, garlic, chilli and basil and poured it over a few tomatoes and watermelon pieces. Inhaled that in about 2 seconds – it was pretty small, let’s face it.

8pm: I ate my lovely cherry and coconut ‘ice cream’ that was left over from lunchtime. My husband wanted some, but I said “oh, no, no, no….no!” I got it from the freezer, hacked it up with the biggest knife I could find and blended it again to make it nice and smooth.

9pm: I had my final 2 x 60ml shots of Forever Aloe Vera Gel and 1 big glass of water.

10pm: BED. Day one – done! Suprisingly easy.

The ‘ice cream’ I made from 1/2 scoop of Forever Lite Ultra & 150ml of coconut milk and a handful of cherries

So I thought I was going to feel terrible today. Turns out I feel great. Yes, I’ve been hungry, but I have reminded myself that you don’t need to feed the hunger at the slightest pang. The amount of times I have gazed into the fridge today out of habit and had to stop myself from snacking on that left over kinder egg that’s still in there, or my lovely pot of chocolate coyo… and I missed my morning crumpets and coffee. Working from home is a killer for that.

I am pumped to do this over again tomorrow… and measure my fat belly on day 3 to see if I’ve shed any baby blubber. (Ok, my ‘baby’ is 3 now…..pizza and wine blubber, then.)